Letter: Commissioners show no respect for County Mayor Terry Frank

"Politics is such a torment that I advise everyone I love not to mix with it," so said Thomas Jefferson.

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Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

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Posted Sep. 12, 2013 at 8:10 PM

Posted Sep. 12, 2013 at 8:10 PM

To the Editor:

"Politics is such a torment that I advise everyone I love not to mix with it," so said Thomas Jefferson.

The recent debate over the Anderson County sheriff's budget has certainly been contentious and tormenting. I could join the list of debating needs, wants, desires and laws, but for me it is very simple, the Anderson County Commission passed a budget and the sheriff asked for more. Our county mayor, justifiably so, refused to exceed the power of her office.

But this isn't the reason I write this letter today. The reason I write is the abhorrent manner in which our county commissioners have handled this issue. As many of the commissioners know, I attend our meetings regularly. This is often at the expense of personal, business and family matters, but I feel as a concerned citizen it is my civic duty to do so. One thing has become readily apparent to me from my seat on the benches of the Commission Room, this group of officials, save a few, show no respect for Mayor (Terry) Frank, the office of county mayor, or the citizens who elected her.

As I watched acting Commission Chair Robin Biloski, Commissioner Harry "Whitey" Hitchcock, Commissioner Tracy Wandell, Commissioner Steve Mead and others continually assault Mayor Frank and refuse her an opportunity to respond to their attacks as they were levied I became incensed at their behavior. The continual assertion from commissioners that this debate is about "two people butting heads" is false. The mayor is entitled only to sign what Commission has approved, so the cries for the mayor to "go out in the hall and sort it out" are absurd. The mayor does not hold the power to draft Sheriff White's Salary Agreement for him, nor does she hold the power to appropriate millions of dollars without Commission's approval. How was she to "work it out?"

What is also clear to me is that the commissioners lacked the gumption to call the sheriff forward for a grilling and shout, moan and pound their fist at. This seems strange, given that the sheriff is both the one who defied their appropriation levels and sued the county mayor when his requests were spurned. Why was the vitriol reserved for Mayor Frank, who was defending the decision of County Commission? I'm not sure if it is simply politics at play, the fact the sheriff carries a gun or simply that the sheriff is a man and the mayor is a woman, but in the end their behavior is not lost on me.

In the end, only two men, Commissioner Dusty Irwin and Commissioner Rick Meredith, passed on the opportunity the skewer the mayor and address the real issues at hand, and for that they have my respect. Meredith correctly pointed out that, as imperfect as it may be, that this is the process and that short of the Tennessee State Legislature changing laws, was unavoidable.

Page 2 of 2 - Commissioner Irwin went a step further, acknowledging that it was indeed Sheriff White who brought the lawsuit despite standing before Commission during the budget process and affirming that the amount of money appropriated was sufficient. He likewise noted the detestable nature of the political assault upon Mayor Frank for merely defending the Commission’s funding decisions.

It is time for our commissioners to own their own funding decisions and defend them, for should the lawsuit bare out that the Sheriff is indeed entitled to more monies, it will be the County Commission that will be tasked with finding the revenues, be it through tax hikes or budget cuts to other departments. The continued personal attacks upon Mayor Frank do nothing to solve the problem, but only add to the citizens' disgust with their behavior.